Houston got their asses handed to them today. The news station ran a poll asking where the problems most lie. ~74% said the problem was with the “front office”, as opposed to offense, defense, or coaching.
What is the front office?
The front office are the team employees responsible for assembling the roster, signing free agents, making draft choices, etc. Usually it’s headed by a General Manager, although increasingly the team President or VP is the one who actually calls the shots and the GM is a subordinate.
Basically everything above the level of the head coach, who (usually) is in day-to-day control of the players and coaches on the team, but not in control of the franchise itself beyond that. So, the front office would include the business side of the team, the scouting department, and, most relevantly, the general manager (or equivalent), who is ultimately in charge of drafting new players, making trades, signing free agents, negotiating player contracts, etc. Sometimes a particularly successful or highly sought-after head coach is given control of some or all of a general manager’s duties, but that’s the exception rather than the rule. Typically, he has to make due with the team that the front office assembles for him (with his input). He generally has a lot of say over his subordinate coaching staff, but that’s it.
So, if the problem with the Texans is deemed to be the front office, what that means is that the executives are doing a poor job constructing a team, and not necessarily that the players are underachieving or the coaching staff is incompetent.
Thanks. I wanted to clarify the difference between that and coaching, especially head coach.
The head coach works with the tools he is given. The front office gives him those tools.
In some cases the line is blurred. For example Bill Belichick is both the Head Coach and General Manager of the New England Patriots. Andy Reid is the Head Coach and Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the Kansas City Chiefs. Sometimes a long time coach is given more responsibility for the overall operation of the team. Most of the time they are not. Most I suspect are happy just coaching.